The founder pitched a great idea at the start – help consumers who don't know what kinds of common drugs to buy at the store, but then immediately pivoted to selling the service to doctors and medical practices. They should have realized that the second one would be impossible to break into.

> But then I look at WebMD’s 10-Qs and start to spiral. Turns out the world’s biggest health website makes about $0.50/year per user. That is…not enough money to bootstrap GlacierMD. I’m pouring money into my rent, into my Egyptian contractors, into AWS—I need some cash soon.

The take away here should have been not to pivot entirely, but raise money. You are in Silicon Valley! This is literally why this entire ecosystem exists. Sometimes bootstrapping can be beneficial, but when you have spent $40K of your money, have a good enough prototype with a clear story, and are going up against giant established competitors, forget customers for a while and sell to VCs instead.

If you are really sure that the service adds value for doctors, give it to them for free for a year and prove it. Open up your service for users without worrying about AWS bills or ad revenue. A boatload of money in the bank makes all of this trivial.